Duke University 2001 graduate Katherine (Katie) Sheriff died in the recent Chicago porch collapse. Katie, a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorrority, also served as the new member educator during her senior year at Duke. She graduated with a degree in political science and was working as director of marketing at a lumber company in Chicago.

According to Ingrid Sheriff (Duke '00) Katie's sister and also a member of KKG, a memorial fund has been set up in Katie's honor at her former high school. Kappa Kappa Gamma has announced a new scholarship in her honor as well.

As many as 50 people, most of them in their early 20s, were crammed onto the apartment's third-floor porch for a party when the floor dropped from under them, sending people and debris crashing to the ground.
Seven men and five women, many of them on the porches directly below, were killed.

-And another,

Northwest of Chicago, eight people were taken to the hospital after a deck on a second-floor apartment in Rockford collapsed Sunday night. Eleven people were on the deck when the deck gave way with a crack.

Apparently this is a problem in Chicago, hopefully all the proper precautions are taken to correct this and prevent more tragedies.

As many as 50 people, most of them in their early 20s, were crammed onto the apartment's third-floor porch for a party when the floor dropped from under them, sending people and debris crashing to the ground.
Seven men and five women, many of them on the porches directly below, were killed.

-And another,

Northwest of Chicago, eight people were taken to the hospital after a deck on a second-floor apartment in Rockford collapsed Sunday night. Eleven people were on the deck when the deck gave way with a crack.

Apparently this is a problem in Chicago, hopefully all the proper precautions are taken to correct this and prevent more tragedies.